Contacts and qualifications

Vendor contacts name the people who answer a quote, delivery or accounts receivable question. Buyer can distinguish a sales representative from an expediter and mark a primary contact. A certification record holds a separate evidence record for each supplier qualification. It keeps the evidence kind, type, number, issuer, scope, issue and expiration dates, document reference and verification decision.

Procurement Manager uses that evidence alongside category requirements. A certificate marked Active has a verification time and named verifier; a Pending item still awaits review. Expired and Revoked are distinct decisions. The scope matters as much as the date: an apparently current document may cover a different site, product line or activity than the one the Buyer is sourcing.

• Supplier people. Keep each contact under the right vendor, with email, phone, role, primary flag and active flag. The team can update a contact without rewriting the supplier’s commercial record.
• Qualification evidence. Enter each document’s type, scope and validity period. Procurement Manager checks the supporting reference and records verification before treating it as current evidence.
• Category fit. Categories hold required certificate type and qualification requirements. Buyer checks the requirement for the item being sourced against the vendor’s evidence.

Identify the categories that require qualification and the person who maintains each rule. Decide the review interval before expiration and the process for requesting replacement evidence. Define what a supplier must provide when a document’s scope changes. Agree which contacts receive RFQ invitations and purchase orders and how a primary contact changes when someone leaves the supplier. Keep role access narrow for document references and the supplier’s own contact data.

Use an active supplier with a certificate approaching its expiration date. Buyer opens Supplier Certifications Expiring and identifies the contact responsible for the replacement. Procurement Manager compares the replacement’s issuer, dates and scope with the category requirement, then records the verification decision. Reopen the supplier and confirm the current item is visible alongside the older history. Next try a vendor with only a Pending certificate: the Buyer should see that the item is awaiting review rather than read the upload as a final qualification decision.

For a second case, let a supplier’s primary sales contact leave while an RFQ remains open. Mark that contact inactive, select another primary contact and check the RFQ invitation list before sending a new request. The invitation history remains connected to the vendor that was originally invited.

• Vendor Contacts — Active supplier people with role, primary selection and reach details.
• Supplier Certifications Expiring — Dated evidence that needs renewal attention.
• Certifications Pending Review — Supplier evidence awaiting the Procurement Manager’s check.

Use supplier qualification for the status decision and sourcing for the next invitation.